


Beginnings

by yuuago



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Gen, Year 0 (Stand Still Stay Silent)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25172137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuuago/pseuds/yuuago
Summary: Snapshots from the early years.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wavewright62](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavewright62/gifts).



Mia was starting to miss school.

Staying home so she and her parents and grandparents could go to the cabin sounded fun at first. Now, she wasn't sure.

Everybody looked worried, unhappy. Her dad was talking about staying the _whole winter_ at the cabin. They'd even started putting plastic sealants on the windows to keep the heat in.

And no matter what she did, Mia always seemed to be in the way.

"Come on, Bosse," she said, and went to the bedroom, the dog following.

She'd packed her homework and books.

It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

* * *

Veeti peered into the freezer. At one point, it had been so full that they could barely close the top. Now... it wasn't.

Everyone was getting sick of pizza. Especially pizza that had been in the freezer so long that it tasted like rubbery cardboard. But rubbery cardboard pizza was better than no pizza.

Better than nothing at all.

His parents had wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. Like they thought because he was a kid he wouldn't understand. Now, nobody bothered.

He hauled the box up to the boat kitchen, wondering when they would finally get to go home.

* * *

Even in quarantine, sleep didn't come easily.

Árni closed his eyes tightly and tried to think of sheep. Big, fat, fluffy, completely normal sheep.

He tried not to think about what he'd seen out on the water. The ships on the radar, ships he hadn't wanted to note because he knew what would happen.

There were other things, too. Whales that were not whales. He knew what whales looked and acted like; these were not whales.

Moving out to a farm in the countryside was starting to sound better and better.

Drifting off, he dreamed of sheep – and safety.

* * *

Officially, the fence was to keep people out.

The rumours said something else.

Signe listened to the stories brought home every time one of the Madsens went out. The things that their friend's cousin's best pal said they'd seen. That they'd heard.

And steadily the fence along the shoreline went up.

Signe thought about volunteering to work on it. She'd done harder jobs before. Maybe they'd even pay.

But she was busy enough earning her keep on the farm. An easy decision.

The chills slipping down her back when she listened to those stories had nothing to do with it.

* * *

Ingrid spread the packets of seeds out on Aksel's kitchen table.

In spite of it all, they'd survived.

Spring would come soon.

"Do you think we'll be able to grow something from these?" she asked, looking hopefully at Berit.

There wouldn't be any more shipments from Bergen. Everyone knew it. So the village joined forces, pooling resources, with Ingrid and Berit organizing it all.

"Let's see." Aksel's grandmother took them up, sorting them into piles. "These are easy. And these. I'm not sure about these ones, dear; they're finicky. And..."

It wouldn't be easy. But they would have to try.


End file.
